Sen. Francis Escudero is urging the Supreme Court to either act on the petition of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV for a review of Proclamation No. 572 or else issue a temporary restraining order (TRO), while the case is pending.
Last Aug. 31, President Rodrigo Duterte issued Proclamation No. 572 revoking Trillanes’ amnesty granted by the previous administration and ordering his arrest.
“While rebellion is bailable, the crime of coup de etat [which is pending in another court] is not. Bail, therefore, will not be a matter of right on the part or Sen. Trillanes and he can be detained once an order of arrest is issued by the RTC [regional trial court],” Escudero, a lawyer, wrote on Twitter, Tuesday night.
“I, therefore, urge the SC to act on the petition of Sen. Trillanes, one way or the other or, in the alternative, to issue a TRO while the case is pending before them.”
“The right of a person to liberty cannot be made to depend on the Court’s absence/lack of action on an issue,” he added.
Escudero made the call after the Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 150 ordered on Tuesday the arrest of Trillanes for rebellion in connection with the 2007 Manila Peninsula siege.
Trillanes then posted bail of P200,000 for his temporary liberty.
But aside from rebellion, the Department of Justice has also asked the Makati RTC Branch 148 to issue an alias warrant of arrest against Trillanes for the case of coup d’etat.
Last Sept. 6, Trillanes filed at the Supreme Court a “Petition for Certiorari, Prohibition and Injunction” questioning the legality of Proclamation No. 572 and seeking to stop its implementation.
He failed to get immediate reprieve though from the high tribunal, which paved the way for the issuance of arrest order against by Makati RTC Branch 150.
“Because the SC did not immediately issue a TRO [temporary retraining order] against PRRD’s [Duterte’s initials] proclamation, even if it seems ill-advised and unconstitutional, the proclamation remains valid and can be used as a basis for the RTC to issue orders/decisions such as the order of arrest vs. Sen. Trillanes…” Escudero pointed out. /atm